Massa certain late puncture cost him sixth place

Felipe Massa was confident that he was on the way to his third top six finish of 2017 on Sunday - until the Williams suffered a late slow puncture.

Massa was running in sixth place ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez when the team told him he would have to pit. He came in for a new set of tyres on lap 41, which dropped him down to ninth with too little time left in the race to make up the lost ground.

"For sure, I had the race completely in my pocket," Massa said after the Russian Grand Prix.

"I had almost eight seconds in front of Checho. I had a lot more pace in the car than what I was doing as well. So we had sixth position in our pocket today.

"I'm disappointed. We were just unlucky with the tyres," he said. "Unfortunately a puncture is something that can happen in our job.

"I was really taking care of the car and the tyres, keeping the gaps in the right place," he continued. "It is unfortunate and painful for the team that we have lost good points, but we can't do anything about it.

"The car felt good, it was consistent with a good pace, I had a good start and first lap," he added. "Unlucky today, but I was also happy with my race."

• Brilliant start hands Bottas maiden GP win

Massa attracted the ire of Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps by getting between the Ferrari and race leader Valtteri Bottas at a crucial moment. The Brazilian F1 veteran insisted that he'd done his best not to hold Vettel up or affect the outcome of the race.

"I left completely the inside path for him," Massa explained. "I back off before in corner 4 but he didn't want to go. He was afraid to dive inside.

"I was completely on the left, then I let him by straight away after. Anyway, I'm sure he wasn't going to pass Valtteri on the last lap of the race. I'm pretty much sure. Anyway - he really likes to complain!"

Even so, Massa was pleased to see his former Williams team mate clinch his first Grand Prix victory this weekend.

"So happy for him," he said. "I think he deserves it, the position he had today, for the driver he is. So I think maybe people weren't talking about him on the right level he is in terms of drivers.

"I said when he signed for Mercedes that he would do a good job there, like he did for Williams, and he is doing. The fourth race [with Mercedes], he has his first victory. Now he is a different driver because he has achieved a victory.

"So happy for him. You'll see he'll achieve a lot more after today."

GALLERY: All the pictures from Sunday in Sochi

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter